The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) aims to electrify the railway track in Tripura from Lumding to Sabroom before August this year, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday.
Of the total 265 km track from Dharmanagar to Agartala, electrification of 165 km has been completed, and the remaining 100 km is expected to be completed by August, the official said.
NFR Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De said that there has been a lot of progress in the 172 km long electrification work from Lumding to Badarpur, with 85 percent of the work already completed.
De informed that the railway network in the North East has been strengthened by electrifying 65 percent of the tracks under the jurisdiction of NFR. According to a report in the Deccan Herald, 55% of the total railway tracks in Assam are under the ongoing electrification drive.
Highlighting the steps taken to accelerate the electrification project, D said that once the ongoing electrification work from Lumding to Sabroom via Agartala is completed, major trains like Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat can be run up to Agartala.
NFR aims to gradually phase out diesel-powered trains in favor of electric trains from the point of view of cost-effectiveness and low carbon emissions. The transition to electric trains is expected to reduce diesel costs and improve environmental sustainability significantly.
As of March 1, 2024, Indian Railways has electrified 62,119 route kilometers (RKMs), about 94 percent of the total broad-gauge network of Indian Railways.
The pace of electrification has increased in the last ten years. Since 2014, a record 40,318 RKM has been electrified as against 5,047 RKM during 2005–14. Notably, more than fifty percent of the 62,119 RKMs electrified at all India levels have been electrified in the last six years.
Indian Railways electrified 6,656 RKMs in FY 2022-23, the highest ever.